Shelly handed her the phone, and Lauren dialed a long string of numbers. “Hi, Jake? It’s Lauren. Is Brad there? He is? With Alissa? Well, would you tell him to call me tonight when they get back?… Thanks … You too, ’bye.”
Suddenly all the names Lauren had just used rang a bell with Shelly. “Alissa? Brad? Did you say Jake?”
Lauren nodded. “He’s my brother’s roommate.”
Shelly’s mouth dropped open. “You’re Lauren!”
“Yes.”
“Lauren Phillips!”
“Yes.”
“You’re Brad’s sister! The one who …” Shelly was about to say, “The one who always has funny, disastrous things happen to her,” but she caught herself in time. “I can’t believe this! I’m Shelly Graham. I was Alissa’s roommate in Pasadena!”
Both the women let out a scream and gave each other a hug.
“Did I miss something?” Meredith said.
Kenton tilted the mixing bowl and coaxed the whipped-up eggs into the hot pan.
“I guess this is one of those ‘had-to-be-there’ things. What do you like in your omelet? Some mushrooms maybe?”
Shelly and Lauren chatted at full speed while Kenton whistled and flipped his omelet in the pan like a pro.
“Oh, my mom,” Lauren said. “I forgot to call my mom!” She pressed some more numbers on the remote phone. Shelly understood Lauren’s exuberance and went over to the stove to watch Kenton work.
“This is perfect,” Meredith said, taking a bite of his first creation.
“It’s a little browner than I like on the underside.” Kenton checked the flame and turned it down before starting his next omelet.
“It tastes wonderful,” Meredith said.
“Did Jana say anything else in her e-mail?” Shelly asked.
“Like what?”
“Like where Jonathan was living now. You didn’t say.”
“Oh, didn’t I? He’s back in the States. I’m sure he’ll let you know exactly where when he e-mails you.” Meredith walked away with the plate in her hand and poured herself a glass of milk.
Later, as Shelly lay awake in the geranium room, she wondered about Meredith’s illusiveness. The room was quiet except for the rhythm of Meredith’s metered breathing. Shelly couldn’t help but question whether Meredith knew more than she had let on. What if Jonathan was back in the Seattle area? Meredith would have told her, wouldn’t she?
Shelly’s heart and mind filled with questions about Jonathan. Had he already read her e-mail? What would he think of it? What if he didn’t want a romantic relationship with her again? She hadn’t exactly come on strong in her letter. She tried to remember what she had said. He could interpret it as an old friend being concerned or as someone being vulnerable and opening up her heart.
Turning onto her side, Shelly felt certain she was going to drive herself crazy working through every possible scenario in her mind. Then it occurred to her: You haven’t prayed about this, Shelly.
With a huge sigh that released all her anxieties, Shelly started to pour out her heart to God. God knew where Jonathan was. He knew what was going to happen.
Shelly pictured herself in a garden saying to the gardener, “Where is he?” And the Lord God was saying, “I’m right here.” She took that to mean she shouldn’t work herself into a frenzy trying to hunt down Jonathan or trying to figure out what was going to happen. It was enough that God was with her every second. He wanted to be her first love, before any human’s. In that deep peace, Shelly fell asleep.
The next morning, Meredith woke her and kept urging her to get going. “What’s the rush?” Shelly said.
“I thought we would check out that camp Kenton mentioned.”
“Okay. I’ll pull on some jeans, and we can get going.”
“Don’t you want to take a shower?”
“Do I need to?”
“I don’t know,” Meredith said. “It seems like a good idea to shower.”
“To tromp around in the dirt? You’re acting wacky this morning; you know that, don’t you?” Shelly grabbed her clothes in a mound and headed for the shower. “I’d like to check your e-mail before we leave.”
“Okay,” Meredith said. “Hurry.”
Shelly didn’t hurry. She took her time. The shower had become her favorite place to pray, and she had lots to pray about this morning. After the shower she sat down with her Bible, eager to read several chapters since she hadn’t read any during their busy day before. While she was praying last night she realized how much she had missed her morning reading.
“What are you doing?” Meredith said, coming into the guest room with her coat on, all set to go.
“Reading. What’s your rush?”
Meredith had an exasperated look on her face. Shelly remembered that look from childhood. It meant, “If you don’t let me have my way, I’m not going to play with you the next time you ask me to.”
“It’s a gorgeous day outside,” Meredith said. “I’d like to do more than sit around here. I want to see what there is to see. Come on. Let’s go. Grab your coat, and let’s get out of here.”
“You always did manage to get your own way,” Shelly muttered as she went for her coat.
“Well, if I do it’s only because it’s for your own good!”
Shelly laughed at her whining sister’s logic.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Knowing how persistent Meredith could be once she put her mind to something, Shelly didn’t even try to argue with her sister this morning. Meredith started the car’s engine, and Shelly said, “Wait. I forgot to check the e-mail.”
“I checked it while you were in the shower. There wasn’t anything.”
“Are you sure?”
“There were letters,” Meredith said, “but none for you.”
“Oh.”
Meredith powered down the driveway as if she was in a hurry to get somewhere. When she hit a bump at the end of the drive, Shelly held on to the handle by the door and said, “Whoa, Meri! We’re not going to the hospital this morning. You can slow down!”
Meredith flashed her sister a coy smile.
“What was that for?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re acting awfully strange. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, really,” Meredith said, sobering. She turned left.
“So, when did you decide we needed to see this camp?”
“I just thought you might like to have a look since you’re into camping and conference centers lately. You even said last night after you brushed your teeth that you would be curious to know more about Kyle’s camp.”
Shelly couldn’t argue. She looked out the windshield at the pale blue, winter sky. Streaks of silver clouds were rising in the distance. But for the moment, the sun held court.
“Are you sure it’s okay that we go out there?” Shelly asked.
“Yes. This is Glenbrooke. Kyle and Jessica don’t even lock their front door. There will be no ‘keep out’ signs or anything.”
Shelly didn’t say anything the rest of the way, holding close her own thoughts about the adventure of starting a camp from the ground up. The idea was appealing, but this would have to be some setup to persuade her to leave Camp Autumn Brook. Shelly thought about how understanding Mr. Hadley had been, even when she delayed making her decision about going full-time.
“This is the place,” Meredith said, coming to a halt on the dirt road and putting down her paper with the directions. “Let’s go exploring.”
“What’s to explore?” Shelly said, looking out at the large meadow and cleared field before them. Markers were in the ground with bits of yellow plastic strips. To the right was a forested area with a trail that led into the thick overgrowth.
“I thought somebody said there was a waterfall,” Meredith said. “I love waterfalls. Let’s go find it.” She was already out of the car.
Shelly got out and looked around. The setting was peaceful. She could imagine a majestic lodge r
ight there in the middle of the clearing. The meadow should be left as it was, which would provide glorious views from the lodge windows. She could imagine this field bursting with spring wildflowers in about a month. It would be gorgeous, she was sure.
“This way,” Meredith urged, standing at the head of the trail that led into the shaded forest. “I think the waterfall is down this way.”
Shelly joined her, and they crunched through the twigs of this primeval forest. Shelly’s spirit began to lift as she felt something vaguely familiar about this forest. She stopped and closed her eyes, drawing in the fragrance of the green around her. In the treetops, a squirrel chittered loudly, and suddenly she remembered. The wooded trail on the way to St. Annakapella.
Opening her eyes and looking around, Shelly couldn’t help but smile. These woods contained a soft sacredness. What was it her grandma had said? “All you ever need to know about St. Annakapella is that you were drawn closer to God through his creation on your journey to it.”
“You’re here, aren’t you, God?” Shelly said, barely above a whisper. “I know you are. And I’m here for you. You are my beloved, and I am yours. I don’t want to ever stop falling in love with you.”
Overhead, a small, brown bird started to sing its heart out. The squirrel chittered back fiercely. Shelly smiled.
“Thank you, Father God, for never giving up on me. Thank you for pursuing me.”
“Shelly,” Meredith called from down the trail, “are you coming?”
Reluctantly Shelly left her moment of communion and shuffled down the trail. Meredith was standing at a crossroads.
“We should go to the left, I think,” Meredith said.
“But I can hear water running,” Shelly said. “It sounds as if it’s coming from the right.”
“It might be,” Meredith said, coaxing Shelly along by pulling her to the left. “But let’s check out this trail first and then come back and go that way.”
Shelly stumbled along after Meredith for about eight feet, and then she stopped. “Okay. What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Meri, I know you. You are a woman on a mission. What is it you’re not telling me?”
Meredith let out a sigh. “Okay, okay. I never was good at keeping secrets.”
They stood in a patch of sunlight that poured through the trees. The faint sound of hammering echoed through the forest.
Meredith gave her sister a hapless grin and shrugged her shoulders. “Promise me you’ll hear me out.”
“I make no promises until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Jana told me a little bit more in her e-mail than I let on.”
“Like what?”
“Like where Jonathan is living.”
Shelly’s eyes opened wider. “Where?”
“You’re not going to believe this.”
“Try me,” Shelly said, raising her voice. She never did like Meredith’s cat and mouse games.
“Right here.”
“Right here,” Shelly repeated, motioning to the forest around them.
“It’s all too bizarre,” Meredith said. “Jonathan lives in Glenbrooke. He was hired by Kyle to develop this camp. He’s working here, right now. I found out from Jana’s e-mail. I called Kyle at the hospital last night. He said Jonathan would be working here this morning.”
“You know,” Shelly said, putting her hands on her hips, “you may think this is a very funny little game of love tag, but I have news for you, Meri: These are real people’s lives you’re messing with. Why didn’t you tell me all this? Did you think it would be fun to play a prank on us? Were you trying to shock me the way I shocked Jonathan in Heidelberg?”
“No!” Meredith stated emphatically. “Nothing like that. I was probably all wrong, and if so I apologize, but when I read Jana’s e-mail, and she said Jonathan was in a little town in Oregon called Glenbrooke, I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to run and tell you, but then I remembered how difficult everything was between you in Heidelberg.”
“So? You don’t have the right to try to arrange meetings.”
“I wasn’t. I was hoping you would once and for all admit to yourself and to Jonathan that you love him and you want him back. I don’t know why that’s been so hard for you to say. All these months I’ve wondered what would have happened if you had opened up your heart to him that morning at the marketplace. Would he still have announced his engagement if he knew you loved him?”
“You can’t make speculations like that in real life, Meredith. It’s not like that. God is the one who orchestrates those things.”
“I don’t doubt that. Look, God brought you and Jonathan to the same place halfway around the world once, and now he’s brought you both to Glenbrooke at the same time. That has to be God! But God’s not the one I’m worried about.”
Shelly adjusted her position, vaguely aware that the echoing of the steady pounding most likely was coming from a hammer that was held in the hand of her only true love. She suddenly felt nervous and unsure of what to do or say if and when she saw him.
“You’re the one who hides, Shelly. That’s why I forced you to write that e-mail last night. You have to tell Jonathan how you feel. How else is he going to know that you want him back?”
Shelly glanced down at her feet, which had grown cold standing in the damp, molding leaves on the trail. She knew her sister was right. In the same way it had taken her so long to admit to God that she needed him and that she wanted an ongoing love relationship with him, Shelly had a hard time admitting the same thing to Jonathan.
“I know you mean well,” Shelly said. “And you’re probably right about some of your reasoning. But I need a minute to think this through.”
“Jonathan doesn’t know you’re here,” Meredith said. “He’ll probably be shocked again when he sees you.”
“No doubt.”
Meredith gave Shelly a lopsided smile. “I know I probably had no business doing this matchmaking. I apologize if I messed things up. I just wanted to see this brick wall between the two of you finally crumble.”
Shelly let out a deep breath. “I know, Meri. Me, too.”
“So go already,” Meredith said, motioning with her hands for Shelly to shoo on down the trail. “The last hero left on this planet is within your grasp.”
Shelly cleared her throat and moistened her lips. She headed down the trail, checking her coat collar and fluffing her hair off the back of her neck. She had worn it down long and straight this morning. The soft water from the shower had made it extra silky.
Feeling her heart pounding in rhythm with her steps, Shelly walked out of the forest and into a small clearing where the trail led up into another forest. At the entrance of that trail was a large tree from which dozens of ropes hung. Shelly could see a platform about twenty feet up in the tree and boards nailed to the trunk leading up to the structure.
She couldn’t see Jonathan, but she could hear him pounding. Shelly moved to the side bushes, not completely sure she was ready for him to see her. At the base of the bushes she noticed a contraption that looked like something Jonathan would come up with. A taut cable hung just above her head and ran up to the platform in the tree. It looked like a more sophisticated version of the zip line Jonathan’s dad had once rigged at their tree house so they could slide down it. Jonathan had called it their “Tarzan rope,” and both of them had put in many hours of flight time, zipping down that line.
Shelly reached up and gave the cable a little tug. Then, puckering up her lips, she whistled—two short, one long.
The hammering continued.
She tried again, this time louder and longer.
Jonathan stopped hammering. She could see him now, stepping out of the shadow and to the edge of the platform. He had on jeans, a ragged gray sweatshirt, and a carpenter’s tool belt around his waist. He looked down but apparently didn’t see Shelly. Stepping out of the bushes, into the open area, Shelly faced Jonathan unashamed. She whistled again. Two
short, one long. Surely Jonathan would remember what that meant: “Come here. Come to the window. I’m waiting for you.”
The instant Jonathan saw her, he froze.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hi,” Shelly called up.
Jonathan paused. “Hi,” he answered after a moment.
“Did you get my e-mail?”
“What e-mail?”
“I sent you an e-mail yesterday. I guess you didn’t get it.”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“What are you doing here?” Jonathan said, adjusting his stance.
“Well, I’m … ah, talking to you,” she answered coyly.
“But what are you doing here?”
Shelly cleared her throat and called up, “Jonathan, I found out yesterday that you and Elena broke up. I’m sorry.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I was actually already in Glenbrooke. Meredith came to meet with Jessica Buchanan, and I came along for the ride. I didn’t know you were here. Meredith had to drag me out here.”
“Drag you out here?” Jonathan repeated.
“Not drag me to see you. I mean drag me out here like a surprise because she didn’t tell me you were here until just a few minutes ago.”
He was too far away for Shelly to be sure, but it seemed the shocked look had dissipated and his familiar grin was returning.
“I’m glad you’re working here and developing this camp,” she called out.
“Is that what you came out here to tell me?” Jonathan called.
“No.” Shelly paused and took a deep breath. “I came out here to tell you that I want you back.”
He didn’t move. Shelly couldn’t blame him. Jonathan had enough reasons to distrust women. Yet she couldn’t stop the words that sprang to her lips. “Don’t you understand what I’m saying?” She held out her arms as if pleading with him. “I love you. I want you back. What’s the matter, Jonathan Bean? Are you a scaredy-cat?”
In one motion, Jonathan grabbed the handles of the pulley at the platform and pushed off with his legs. As Shelly watched, her best friend came flying down the zip line toward her. His feet hit the ground less than a foot away from her, and his brown hair showed the tousled evidence of his heroic entrance. With searching, gray eyes, he scanned her face.